


Happenstance

by isoisoashley



Category: Glee, White Collar
Genre: Crack, Crossover, Glee AU, M/M, ignores everything that happens in glee from the breakup on, new york isn't as big a city as you think it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 04:04:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3514679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isoisoashley/pseuds/isoisoashley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cooper Anderson is supposed to be shooting a TV pilot in Vancouver, Canada. Which doesn't explain why Kurt and Blaine see him standing across the street ordering coffee in New York City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Been a long time since I wrote any fanfic--just wanted to stretch my fingers a little!

“It’s not that I don’t understand why they didn’t cast me,” Kurt huffed. “I just am not ready to accept it laying down.”

“And you shouldn’t,” Blaine assured him, pausing to take a sip of his coffee. “The day you do is a sad day, Kurt. You should be trying out for all the things you want to. The worst—“

“--they can do is say no,” Kurt finished, smiling at him.

“Which doesn’t mean ‘no’ doesn’t suck.”

“But I’ve got you,” he leaned forward and brushed his lips across his boyfriend’s. “Which goes a long way toward taking the sting out when you take me for coffee and walks in New York City.”

“Center of the universe,” Blaine quipped. “Though we both made it out of Ohio so we know times aren’t as shitty as—Cooper?”

Kurt frowned and then turned to follow his boyfriend’s line of sight. “That…does look an awful lot like your brother,” he said slowly. “If your brother were into 3 pieces suits and fancy hats. Did he say he was going to be in New York?”

“No… he was supposed to be off filming something in Canada. I don’t know. I told you, it got weird after he came to visit McKinley. Remember? He and Kate broke up and then there was…he just hasn’t been that communicative.”

“He looks like he’s with a friend. And they’re stopping at a coffee cart; let’s go figure out why he’s here.”

\---

“It’s doesn’t make any sense to do it that way, Peter, when you have a professional right here.” Neal held out his arms and wiggled them a little. “Right here.”

Peter snorted. “Right. Like I’m going to buy that act—2 coffees, large—after that stunt you pulled last week.”

“Peter.” Neal gave him a sweet smile that could have melted butter. “I’m hurt,” he pressed a hand to his chest. “Truly hurt.”

“Why am I not surprised?” The sarcastic tone came from behind his partner and had Peter quirking a brow as Neal stilled. “Blaine, are you surprised at all that Cooper is emotionally injured?”

“No, not at all. Though I am surprised at why he can’t tell the difference between New York and Canada.”

Peter took in the two boys standing behind Neal; one in a cardigan and bow tie—who dressed like that?—and the other outfitted in pants that had to have been a pain to get into and some sort of scarf/broach combo that was oddly fitting for his lithe frame. Maybe 18, 19? Neal had yet to turn around and in fact seemed to be counting to ten. Jesus. Had Neal conned these kids?

“Coop? Seriously. You weren’t even going to call?”

Peter opened his mouth to say something when Neal opened his eyes and turned, a grin plastered on his face.

“Blaine! Kurt! WHAT are you doing in this little part of New York?”

“I live here, Cooper. Didn’t you get my last letter?”

“It’s been… a strange few months. Kurt! You’re here too.”

“I also live here, Cooper,” Kurt’s tone was amused. “For 2 years now.”

“Cooper, seriously. You were supposed to be in Canada. Does Mom even know you’re here?”

“Mom?” Peter turned to stare at Neal. “Neal—“

“Who’s Neal?” Blaine’s tone was confused.

“New role,” Cooper stage whispered to him. “He’s an ex-con man—“

“On the run from the FBI—forger extraordinaire? Cooper, that was the same role you were practicing for last time you were in Ohio.” Blaine rolled his yes. “Sir, are you FBI? Because I have to tell you my brother is largely harmless if not a little over-enthusiastic about getting into his art.”

Peter took a long look at the kid, then turned to stare at Neal. “Let me get this straight. You’re an actor.”

Neal shot him an odd look, half pleading, half…something. “Yes.”

“Named Cooper.”

“Yes.”

“And this is…?”

“My brother.”

“Your brother.”

“Blaine,” the boy supplied, holding out his hand. “Anderson. It’s nice to meet you.”

“And your brother’s boyfriend.”

“Kurt.”

“Ok. Well. "Cooper". Why don’t you get a number for your brother so you guys can catch up later? We’ve got an appointment, boys, that I can’t have him late for.”

\---

“Cooper?”

“Anderson,” Neal sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Blaine is the only thing about home that I try to keep up with. I just… didn’t expect to run into him here.”

“Neal.” The name sounded odd now that he knew the truth but ‘Cooper’ was even odder. “You have to tell them the truth. Or… at least your brother.” He blew out a breath and took a sip of the beer in his hand. “Especially since they’re living here now. Can you imagine if they ran into you on a sting? We’re lucky it was just us grabbing coffee.”

“Yeah.” He winced. “It’s just easier for him to think I’m some failed actor than…”

“And FBI CI?”

Neal smiled wryly. “It’s the part before that that’s going to be hard to explain.”

\---

Blaine sat at the edge of the couch, mouth open as he stared at his brother. “Cooper. Please tell me this is a very elaborate prank.”

His brother shook his head and lifted the cuff of his pants to show his tracking monitor. “Had to get special permission to go out of my zone to get to your apartment. Not a joke. Blaine. I’m so sorry that I lied to you.”

“It looks like you lied to everyone. Like professionally,” his brother said, brow furrowed. Kurt reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“So you live here,” he clarified. “And work for the FBI, what, taking down criminals and answering to Neal Caffrey?”

“It’s who I am now. Who I’ve been for a long time. I—“

“That’s how Mom got the money for Dalton, isn’t it?” Blaine’s voice was quiet. “You… stole it. For me.”

“I stole it for me,” his brother’s voice was firm. “But it was a bonus that I could help keep you safe.”

Blaine nodded, slowly. “So… if you’re living here, does that mean maybe I…we, can get to know you? The real you?”

His brother grinned. “Yeah. Yeah, Blaine. I’d like that.”


	2. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding out your brother is con-artist is all well and good...but Blaine discovers he's a little more conflicted about it than he initially thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had no plans to write more... but here you to. One more chapter to finish it out. Will probably post tomorrow or the next day!

“Okay, I have to ask,” Kurt perched on the armrest next to Blaine, casually rubbed a hand over his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Explain to me how you can be working as a CI for the FBI and be wearing John Varvatos and Sy Devore.” When Blaine turned and stared at him he lifted his shoulder and gave a wry grin. “It’s a legitimate question, Blaine.”

Cooper—Neal, they had to remember to call him Neal in case they ran into him in public—just laughed. “It’s a long story. But basically I got extremely lucky and met a wonderful woman my first day in the city. She offered me a place to stay that was a little nicer than the…motel that the FBI put me into and it turns out that her late husband was very well dressed.”

“What I want to know is how you managed to go from mediocre paintings to being some sort of master forger,” Blaine gave his brother a pointed look. “Because I seem to remember that your art was pretty terrible.”

“Turns out it’s a lot easier for me to mimic the greats than it is to come up with my own material.” Neal leaned back in his chair and kept his gaze steady on his brother. “It wasn’t… I didn’t wake up one day and decide that I was going to break the law, Blainers. I happened slowly and a little at a time. And then…”

“You were in too deep?” His tone was sarcastic.

“And then I fell in love with it,” Neal said simply. “It was all the rush of being in front of the camera—only it never stopped. There was always a role I could fill, always a con I could run. And some of them were long cons.”

“Like Neal.”

“Like Neal,” Neal agreed. “After a while it felt like Cooper was the role and Neal… Neal is real to me. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“No, I get it.” Blaine stood, headed for the kitchen. “Cooper has a family and responsibilities. Cooper was supposed to be a big brother and a role model. But Neal, Neal could just be whoever he wanted, right? I mean. He didn’t have a family. No brother holding him back from all the cool, big things you were doing.”

“Blaine, it wasn’t like that.” Neal stood, took a step forward and then stopped, rocking back on his heels. It was movement that was pure Anderson, not the practiced steps of Neal Caffrey.

“Would you have ever told me? If we hadn’t found you out. Would you have just stopped writing back all together? Faded away until Cooper was gone forever?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?” Blaine shifted, just a little, so that his profile was visible. Hard lines, jaw clenched. “You think just because you paid for Dalton that made it any easier not to have you? But I guess it wasn’t so important to be around, as long as you sent money. It’s fine. It’s better, knowing the truth,” his voice was soft as he turned and headed for the bedroom.

“Give him some time.” Kurt’s voice was soft where he was still seated on the couch. Neal turned to look at him, found that Kurt was staring after his boyfriend. “You have to understand that this,” he waved a hand and finally turned his gaze toward Neal, “is very difficult.”

“Cooper Anderson was no prize. Blaine hated who I was when I came to visit.”

“But that Cooper was real to him. And when Cooper missed out on things or was too self-involved to care, it was just because he was Cooper—that’s the way he was and Blaine couldn’t blame him for that. Instead you tell him that was all an act. How is he supposed to feel?” Kurt looked back down the hall. “Give him time.”

“Alright.” He moved toward the door, grabbing his coat and hat from the rack by the door. “Tell him… tell him to call me. When he’s ready.”

Kurt nodded and waited until the elder Anderson closed the door behind him before moving toward the bedroom.

“It’s stupid,” Blaine said as soon as he opened the door.

“It’s not.”

“It _is_.” He ran a hand through his hair, wincing at the feel of it dragging through the gel. “Neal Caffrey is cool. He’s smart. He doesn’t point at everything.”

“Neal Caffrey isn’t your brother,” Kurt said simply.

“I don’t even know him.” Blaine’s face crumpled and Kurt moved forward to wrap his arms around his boyfriend.

\- - -

Neal spent his lunch sitting out in front of the FBI building, a cup of coffee gone cold as he toyed with the lid and pretended to study the case file in front of him. He looked up as a fresh cup slid into his line of sight--one from the place three blocks down that tasted considerably better than the cart that made its home in the FBI courtyard.

"Peter told you?" He guessed, glancing up to make eye contact with Elizabeth.

"Peter told me," she gave him a soft smile as she slid into the seat across from him. "I hope you don't mind."

"Elizabeth. I learned a long time ago that Peter doesn't keep anything important from you," his lips quirked. "Even when he probably should. It's a good bet that's part of why you've been married so long."

"And so successfully," she agreed. "You want to talk about it?"

"Nothing much to talk about. I spent so long pretending I didn't have a brother that it's hard to figure out why I'm so upset."

"Because _Neal_ didn't have a brother. _Cooper_ does," she said simply, "and it's probably a lot harder to pretend to be Neal when Cooper's brother is right down the street."

"Kurt was right. He said that when Cooper was thoughtless everyone just expected it," he explained. "But now that Blaine knows it was deliberate..."

"Oh honey." She reached out a hand and placed it on his. "So fix it."

"I don't know how."

"Well." She leaned back and gave him a smile and turned her wrist to glance at her watch. "I have 45 minutes before I have to get back to the office. Let's figure out how to get your brother back."


	3. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal tries to make it right. But in Cooper fashion, it doesn't turn out quite the way he thought it would.

As plans went it wasn’t a bad one.

“I just don’t know about the legality of it,” Neal confessed, sitting in the ridiculously uncomfortable chair across from Peter.

“I never thought I’d see the day when you were concerned with legality,” Peter’s tone was amused. “This is El’s idea, I take it?”

“Well,” Neal flashed a grin. “You were the one who put her on my trail.”

“Smartest thing I could have done.” He leaned back in his chair, studied the man across from him. “Truth is, Neal, I’m not sure about the legality either. Strictly speaking what you’ve just told me means that ‘Neal Caffrey’ doesn’t exist.”

“He does—“

“You created his identity. Yes, you’ve used a lot of Cooper’s information but… technically I should be adding another count of identity fraud to your sheet.” Neal surprisingly stayed silent through that note. It wasn’t as if it hadn’t occurred to him that he could go back to prison once Peter had found out that Neal wasn’t his real name. But he and Peter had come a long way in the 2 years of their partnership and he trusted the man. “Add to that, if anyone finds out before we find a way to fix this… I’m not sure I can stop anything that happens, especially since I had prior knowledge,” his tone was grim.

“Peter. I didn’t—I don’t want you to get into trouble over this.” Neal’s voice was soft. “I don’t want to fix this thing with Blaine in a way that’s going to cost me you and what I’ve made here.”

“Which is why I’m going to help,” Peter said simply. “The fact is, Neal, you came to me with this, El’s idea or not. I know you could have gotten Mozzie to figure something out and left me out of the loop.”

“I’m trying. I trust you.”

“I know. So. Let’s figure out a way to do this that get the least amount of people in trouble and keeps your butt out of jail. Again.”

“The social security number was—is—mine.” He drummed his fingers on the desk. “What if I merged them?”

Peter closed his eyes and groaned. “Merged them.”

“Went for something simple—like Neal Cooper Anderson Caffrey,” his tone was thoughtful. “Like a legal name change. Only it would be a little absorption as well. No one has to know about that part. If my… parents ever find out and ask it can be as simple as Cooper’s eccentricities. The FBI doesn’t really need to know at all since no of my other information is changing. Later on if anyone does notice they’ll probably figure that I tried to use it for some sort of nefarious purpose—since there’s no trail showing I did so it should leave us in the clear, right? Would adding middle names send up any flags? They’ll think I’m setting the stage for some sort of con but I can claim it’s so I have a name I can make a fresh start with once this is all over,” he motioned to the office below.

“You let me worry about any flags. But that could work,” Peter said thoughtfully. “Alright. Let’s give it a try. Just make sure whatever you’re going to ask Mozzie to do to make this go smoothly before you apply for the name change is above the board as possible."

“Peter. Please. Don’t you trust me?” Neal flashed him a grin as he reached for his hat and moved out the door, calling out a greeting to one of the new interns as he made his way back toward his desk.

Peter snorted out a laugh. “More and more every day. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass,” he muttered. But he had a feeling that this was a huge step in the right direction. Neal was putting down roots and trying to make things right—under a name he could claim as his own, asking for help from friends to make things right with family. If there was ever a chance for Neal to go straight, to build a life for himself… Peter had a pretty good feeling this was his best shot.

\---

Blaine stared down at the invitation in his hand and then up at his boyfriend. “I think he’s trying to bribe us.”

“Which, if you think about it, is a very Cooper thing to do.” Kurt reached forward and plucked the invitation from his boyfriend’s hands and read it through.

“But is it real? I mean. How do we know it’s not just…”

“Some sort of new con?” Kurt shrugged. “We don’t, I guess. Only what could he want from us?” He slid the envelope onto the kitchen counter and leaned back, resting his elbows on the worn wood as he studied his boyfriend. “The only thing he could realistically want is a relationship with you. Either that or he’s biding his time until we’re both ridiculously famous so he can leverage that.”

“A long con,” Blaine’s tone was serious.

“Oh. Blaine. I was kidding.” Kurt stood up straight and moved forward to wrap his arms around Blaine’s waist and rested his cheek on Blaine’s hair. “I know it seems like he’s this completely different person. But I think a lot of Cooper is in there. Maybe we can hope for the good parts—and a lack of all the over dramatic finger pointing and need to be the center of attention.” He pressed a kiss to the gelled curls under his cheek. “But if you don’t want to talk to him or if you need more time, I’m behind you one hundred percent.”

“Full support?”

“Full support.”

“Even though that’s an invitation to one of the biggest parties for Fashion Week?”

Kurt leaned back and caught Blaine’s face in his hands. “It will hurt, Blaine. Hurt like the time the consignment shop sold out that McQueen scarf from under my nose. But if it causes you even a second of pain, I don’t want to go.”

Blaine grinned. “Liar.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s mouth, let it linger. “But the fact that you would lie about it and give it up for real is one of the reasons why I love you so much.” He touched his nose to Kurt’s and smiled softly. “Ok.”

“Ok?”

“Ok. He’s my brother. Part of him has to still be my brother. So we’ll go and see what he has planned. And then take it from there.”

Kurt let out a noise he would later swear wasn’t a squeal as he hugged Blaine hard and jumped up and down. And then his face fell in horror. “Oh my god. What are we going to wear?”

\---

“God bless Isabella and her affection for me.”

Blaine grinned as Kurt leaned forward to straighten his bow tie. “I can’t believe she let you into the Vogue closet again.”

“She’s still claims I’m going to be some sort of fashion icon and that she’s just building up favors for the day I am.”

“She’s not wrong,” Blaine turned, tried to focus on his boyfriend’s fussing instead of the reason they were going to the party at all.

“Anytime you want to leave,” Kurt said, eyes serious, “we go.”

Blaine nodded and reached forward to brush his hands across Kurt’s cheek. “I wonder if I’ll ever get used to how perfect for me you are.”

“Sap.”

“Always.” He leaned back. “Alright. Let’s go see what insane plan CooperNeal has come up with.”

“See? You do know him. You already know it’s going to be a little insane.”

\---

It wasn’t a little insane, it was completely, totally insane. It was also an FBI sting.

Turns out that Cooper Anderson/Neal Caffrey was also reclusive fashion designer Nicholas Tabernacle, brother to Steve Tabernacle, international playboy, jet-setter and infamous investment fraudster. And he’d ended up being an integral part of bringing down Steve’s former business partner--who had shown up at fashion week to kidnap Nicolas in an attempt to get Steve to show himself. Of course that kind of fell apart when he recognized that Cooper/Neal/Nicolas _was_ Steve. And then the FBI had shown up.

“I swear I didn’t know it was going to turn out like this,” Neal slid into the chair across from them. “I just wanted you to have a nice time. I was going as myself, I promise—I had no clue that Robert was going to—“

“This is crazy,” Blaine said, staring at his brother. “I don’t even—I—how many people _are_ you?”

Neal winced. “That’s… difficult to answer.”

“I own one of your suits,” Kurt’s tone was calm, even as he reached out to lace his fingers with Blaine’s. “Well. Nicholas Tabernacle's suits. Assuming you actually did the designing. It got lost in the move, though, so if you have a replacement you want to pass my way, that would be much appreciated.”

“Kurt.”

“I loved that suit. We went to see Rent when I was in that suit,” he said as he squeezed his boyfriend’s hand. “Also we’re at the FBI and I don’t know that your brother can answer that other question without getting himself in trouble.”

“They…we’re not being watched,” Neal clarified. “I just asked them to put you someplace safe. So I could apologize. Again.”

“This is what you do?” Blaine tilted his head to the side, studied his brother. “You bring down bad guys that you did illegal things with in the past.”

“Allegedly done illegal things,” Neal clarified.

“Right.”

“And it’s not always people I knew… I just. I help. Solve cases, current ones.”

“Why? To stay out of jail?”

“It started that way. I took the deal because I needed...something and I couldn’t be in prison to do it. But it stopped being about that a long time ago. I work with Peter. I’m good at it. And we do good things. Mostly. Working here has made me realize I want more than what I had before.” He caught his brother’s gaze. “Having you here makes me realize I want more than what I had before. I messed up, Blaine. For a long time. I want to start making things right.”

“And if I don’t want that? If I don’t want to have this,” he waved a hand around, “as part of my life?”

Neal’s shoulders sagged. “Then I’ll leave you alone. But I’ll always be here waiting if you want more.”

Blaine was quiet for a long time, studying his brother across the table. “I want you to promise me that you don’t lie to me anymore. If you can’t tell me, you can’t tell me. But no more lies.”

Neal nodded. “You might have to cut me a little slack as I get used to it but I’ve been trying. With Peter. How about we start with dinner? Peter’s wife Elizabeth is dying to meet you and she’s something else. That way you can get to know a little of Neal and they can learn about Cooper. And…I’m working on a name change. I like Neal but I want Cooper to be a part of it. So. Neal Cooper Anderson Caffrey. Then after I finish my sentence… I have someone I can be full time.” He waited, kept his eyes steady on Blaine. He wanted to keep going, to explain more. But the next step had to be his brother's. 

“Dinner,” Blaine gave his brother a tentative smile, and Neal felt his own lips lift in answer, “sounds great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright folks! That's it unless an epilogue bites me. Been a long time since I've written any fanfic and never in either of these fandoms so I hope I didn't mess it up too much! Mostly it was just for my own fun--hope you enjoyed it to :) If anyone else wanted to write anything in this "verse" (which I know others have played in) with the specifics I've created, go for it and let me know!


End file.
